A new joint report by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and
Global Financial Integrity (GFI), launched last Wednesday at the 48th AfDB
Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco, reveals that the African continent has
been a long-term net creditor to the rest of the world. The Report finds that
Africa suffered between USD 597 billion and USD 1.4 trillion in net outflows
between 1980 and 2009 after adjusting net recorded transfers for illicit
financial outflows.
“The
resource drain from Africa over the last 30 years - almost equivalent to
Africa’s current GDP - is holding back Africa’s lift-off,” said Prof. Mthuli
Ncube, Chief Economist and Vice-President of the African Development
Bank.
“The
traditional thinking has always been that the West is pouring money into Africa
through foreign aid and other private sector flows, without receiving much in
return. Our report turns that logic upside down – Africa has been a net creditor
to the rest of the world for decades,” said Raymond Baker, President of GFI, a
Washington-based research and advocacy organization.
Prepared by a joint team consisting of GFI Chief Economist Dev Kar, GFI
Economist Sarah Freitas, AfDB Senior Economist Jennifer Mbabazi Moyo, and AfDB
Economist Guirane Samba Ndiaye, the study finds that cumulative illicit
financial outflows from the African continent over the 30-year time span ranged
from between USD1.2 trillion to USD1.3 trillion in real terms. These unrecorded
illicit outflows considerably swamped cumulative net recorded flows over the
same period. As such, cumulative net resource outflows from Africa ranged from
USD597 billion to USD1.4 trillion between 1980 and 2009.
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